Nix, Henry Allan (1937 - 2022)

Summary

Henry Nix was a widely respected enviromentalist and ornithologist. He pioneered and promoted computer-based inventory and evaluation systems as a basic tool to guide policy for, and management of, large-scale ecological challenges. During his time with CSIRO he developed (with colleagues) BIOCLIM, a climatic database package that has found wide application in many fields, particularlyclimate change prediction and species distribution models. Nix was a keen ornithologist from an early age: he joined the Royal Australasian Ornithological Union at 13. Among his publications were influential papers on the need for reliable data as being central to management strategies and the development of policies to protect birds. As President from 2001 to 2005, he steered Birds Australia through a time of transition from an amateur to a professional organisation, and when financial support for citizen science projects became difficult. He was also instrumental in the preservation of the Newhaven Station in the Northern Territory as a conservation area. Nix was Director, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University between 1986 and 1999.

Details

Chronology

1956

Education - QDA, Queensland Agricultural College

1960

Education - Bachelor of Agricultural Science (BAgSc),University of Queensland

1961 - 1964

Career position - Science Writer, CSIRO Agricultural Research Liaison Section, Melbourne

1964 - 1973

Career position - Experimental Officer, CSIRO Division of Land Research and Regional Survey

1973 - 1974

Career position - Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Land Use Research

1975 - 1982

Career position - Principal research Scientist, CSIRO Division of Land Use Research

1979 - 1996

Award - Fellow, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science

1982 - 1986

Career position - Senior Principal Research Scientist and Leader, Resource Management Program, CSIRO Division of Water and Land Resources Management

1986 - 1999

Career position - Professor and Director, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University

1988

Award - Urrbrae Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to Australian agriculture

1988

Award - Gold Medal, Queensland Agriculture College Council

1988 - 1990

Career position - Chairman, UN Expert Committee on Climatic and Potential Physical Effects of Global Nuclear War

1989 - 1993

Career position - Chairman, National Greenhouse Advisory Committee

1989 - 1994

Career position - Chairman, Technical Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Climate Impact Assessment and Management Program

1993 - ?

Career position - Chairman, Advisory Committee, Australian Network for Plant Conservation

1994

Award - Ecological Society of Australia Gold Medal

1995

Award - Eminent Individual Award, Australasian Urban and Regional Information Systems Association

1997 - 2022

Award - Fellow, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology

1999 - 2001

Career position - Member of Council, Birds Australia

1999 - 2010

Career position - Emeritus Professor, Australian National University

2000

Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for service to the environment, particularly the conservation of natural resources, and to land management through the development and application of simulation models for ecologically sustainable land utilization

2001 - 2005

Career position - President, Birds Australia

2002 - 2007

Career position - Member, Wildlands Project Scientific Adisory Committee, Wilderness Society Australia

2006 - 2011

Award - Fellow, Birds Australia

2008

Award - J. P. Thomson Medal, Royal Geographical Society Queensland

2012 - 2022

Award - Fellow, Birdlife Australia

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Nix, H. A., 'Environmental control of breeding, post-breeding dispersal and migration of birds in the Australian region' in Proceedings of the 16th International Ornithological Congress, Canberra 1974, Frith, H. J. and and Calaby, J. H., eds (Canberra: Australian Academy of Science, 1976), pp. 272-305. Details
• Nix, H. A., 'Environmental determinants and evolution in Terra australis' in Evolution of the flora and fauna of arid Australia, Barker, W. R. and Greenslade, P. J. M., eds (Frewville, S.A.: Peacock Publications, 1982), pp. 47-66. Details

Journal Articles

• Booth, T. H., Nix, H. A., Busby, J. R. and Hutchinson, M. F., 'BIOCLIM: the first species distribution modelling package, its early applecation s and relevance to most current MAXENT studies', Diversity and distributions, 20 (2014), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12144. Details
• Caughley, G., Short, J., Grigg, G. C. and Nix, H., 'Kangaroos and climate: an analysis of distribution', Journal of animal ecology, 56 (1987), 751-61. https://doi.org/10.2307/4946. Details
• Olsen, Penny; and Baker, Barry, 'Vale Emeritus Professor Henry Allan Nix AO (8 July 1937 - 2 February 2022)', Emu, 122 (2) (2022), 153-4. https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2022.2071632. Details
• Saunders, Denis A.; Olsen, Penny; and Cunningham, Ross, 'Tribute to Professor Henry Allan Nix AO: pre-eminent biogeographer and ornithologist (8 July 1937 - 2 February 2022)', Pacific conservation biology, 28 (5) (2022), iii-vi. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC2206. Details

Resources

• 'Nix, H A', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-464081. Details

Resource Sections

• Galovic, Nikki, 'Emeritus Professor Henry Allan Nix AO', in CSIROpedia, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, 2018. https://csiropedia.csiro.au/henry-nix/. Details
• Hutchinson, Michael, 'Henry Nix (8 July 1937 - 2 February 2022)', Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Australian National University, Canberra, 2022. https://fennerschool.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/henry-nix-8-july-1937-%E2%80%93-2-february-2022. Details

See also

• Booth, Trevor H., ' Why understanding the pioneering and continuing contributions of BIOCLIM to species distribution modelling is important', Austral ecology, 43 (8) (2018), 852-60. https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.12628. Details
• Robin, Libby, The Flight of the Emu: a Hundred Years of Australian Ornithology 1901-2001 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2001), 492 pp. Details